Road Trip With Photographer

1. Minnesota

Mary

is talking again

or should I say worrying

again

but I can’t hear

her

I have left

there’s this mountain in Las Cruces

gold and green

I can hear it

simple music

that makes me

crave a guitar

2. Atlanta

We share a hotel room in Atlanta

I try to pretend the TV is a mountain

whispy white

3. Sleeping arrangements

I don’t sleep on the road I watch Mary

she doesn’t snore

I love her

for that

silence is precious

4. Los Angeles

In LA we walk

no one walks in LA

it’s really a desert

a wastelands

nobody survives long

without devouring someone else

5. The South

We ask Tracy to put on her wedding gown

it takes a lot of persuasion

but in the end I’m glad

we all made the effort

the children swarm around her

we give them each a buck for holding still

6. Further South

Cassandra pretends we are not

knocking on her door as she sits staring

at the twelve-inch black and white rerun of Madlock

cradling an abused fire engine red telephone

with no numbers on the push buttons

I ask

God to intervene

Mary sighs

three-year-old Jimmy manages to open the door

with a toothless smile

he’s still able to bite the dog

7. The Women

I love Cassandra even though she made us wait

I love them all

for sitting still

cleaning their houses

putting on makeup

bribing their children

mostly telling the truth

8. In Seattle

It rains

but the light is amazing

some inner thing reflected off

the sound

I can tell

where I am

by the colors

Tampa is pink and green

Santa Fe is red

Washington can be gray and green

LA is yellow, often brown

Georgia is soft green with red

It takes me a while to understand Mary’s photographs

now I have her eyes brown

but colored too

If I grow old

I will paint

I feel that is enough

9. Time

I keep saying two years

two more years of this frequent flyered

jet lagged

hoteled

thin walled

fast food

slow waitressed

rental loneliness

with free upgrades

10. Hotel Dreams

I dreamed

of Picasso

last night

his good eye

he told me the truth about the colors

I want to

live with him

no words

just paint

titanium whites

cadmium yellows

cerulean blue

I wear black on the road

it travels well

goes with everything it protects me

from complaints

bad weather

and gaudiness

11. Mortality

Mary inspires me

to give up make-up

I watch my face age with every bonus mile

it amuses me

my life

engraved

on the fine skin around my mouth eyes and feet

What does sixty

look like anyway?

12. Mary

Mary is still worrying

even as she sleeps

the lines between her brows betray her

I just want her

to be happy

that is why

I wait

till at least

eight o’clock

before I wake her.